Our First Road Trip 2024 in our 2020 Freedom Elite 28FE RV – Part 3

July 27 Through August 2

Click here to read part 1. Click here to read part 2

July 27 – Cameron to Grant Village Campground in Yellowstone National Park

The two hour trip from Cameron to the entrance to Yellowstone was a quick and easy trip, except for one little detail. The brake lights did not light up when it was attached to the RV. Hmmph. You know what that means! A trip to the auto parts store. Must be a fuse, right?

After a bunch of poking around hubby and Wyatt couldn’t find the issue. No time for this! I want to get in the park!!

WE MADE IT!!! YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK!

The fist chance we got we detached the car from the RV. Cash and I were riding in the back and we just couldn’t see all that much out the small kitchen window. We have larger windows on the dinette side, but at the time the view was not all that impressive. Hubby and Wyatt drove ahead of us in the RV while Cash and I followed in the car. Much better. No neck pain for us tonight. We drove through the park at 45 miles an hour soaking up all the sights, including a few of the smaller geysers.

For us, it was just fine driving through the park. I would have thought we would go on a few hikes, but in the car and RV we could cover a lot of ground and we saw plenty. I am sure the trails are magnificent, but we only had one day in Yellowstone, and quite frankly we are a bit drained from the trip. Had we planned to stay at least three nights I would have liked to hike a bit. But this trip is the express version. We drove around for a few hours then headed to Old Faithful. The parking there was absolutely insane and it was CROWDED. First thing first… get food. We grabbed a few sandwiches from the snack bar and went back to the RV to enjoy them. Then it was back in the store to shop for souvenirs. Old Faithful was just a short walk from the gift shop, but wasn’t scheduled to go off again for another hour or so. We made the decision to pass on that and continue our journey around the park.

Soon it got late and it was time to settle down for the night. We camped stayed the night at the Grant Village Campground inside the Park. We love to chit chat it up with the neighbors any chance we get when camping. We love to meet new people and hear what their story is. How funny was it that our neighbors lived 15 minutes from us. HA! Well it was nice to talk to them.

It was a bit of a stressful night. We did not have hookups at all, and my oldest needed to take a test online for the Summer class he was taking. Plus I still needed to work as well in the morning. Working remote is great, but no internet and no power makes it a bit of a challenge. Hubby thought we would be okay with just the solar spaniels, but as soon as we pulled up to the site the clouds came in. We did eventually get it figured out, but it was a bit stressful.

July 28 – Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Jackson

We woke up pretty early today. We have a lot we want to do and staying on schedule was a must. Despite the issues with no electric hook up and the clouds and trees making the Starlink a bit unpredictable, I was able to complete my work for the day. We woke up the kids, packed up the RV, and were on the road to Jackson by 7:30. My oldest had a zip line experience at Snow King Mountain at 10:30. We continued to drive separately at this point. We were getting in the last views of Yellowstone, and were enjoying the views through the Grand Teton mountains. HOLY MOLLY!!!

We arrived in Jackson at 10:30 and had just made it for check in. I barley had a chance to tell Wyatt to have fun and he was out the door to the meeting point. For some reason I thought the zip line experience would be 45 minutes or so. Nope… three hours! Okay. Hubby, Cash and I had some time to kill. We decided the Cowboy Mountain Coaster and Gondola were good options. The mountain coaster was fun, but again the $25 for such a short ride seems a bit excessive. But we were on vacation, so you just do it. The Gondola ride to the top of the ski lift was nice. We checked out the view and waited for Wyatt to get to the last zip line of his tour.

I spent a portion of that time taking pictures of the flowers on the trail. Good way to pass time. The last zip line was a 500 foot drop from the top of the ski lift to the base. I tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to not think about my baby going down the side of the mountain on a little wire. UGH! He loved it of course!

Once I knew Wyatt made it to the base safely we made our way back down the mountain in the Gondola. By that time I had had enough of the wonderful views, and being up so high. I had no idea I was such a wreck filled with so many fears. ERG! Now it’s was time for food and souvenir shopping downtown.

No, we did not get the hat. We had a wonderful lunch at The Roosevelt’s and then hit the road for the two hour drive to North Bingham County Recreation RV Park in Shelley Idaho. I drove this stretch of the trip. To say I hated it is an understatement. I can drive the RV just fine, and you don’t even notice you are towing a car behind you. What I hate the most outside of the wind, is the cars piling up behind me on winding narrow raids with no pullouts. I have no problem pulling out and letting cars pass me. The problem is when there are no safe places at all for miles and miles to let people by. The pressure to go faster is horrible and I end up getting very stressed. Experiencing that for the whole drive was just exhausting. We didn’t leave Jackson until 3pm, so when we reached the RV park it was time for dinner and Wyatt needed to take the final for one of his summer classes.

July 29 Shelley Idaho to Boise

I woke at up 3am feeling so sick. I had the worst headache and was very nauseous. Was it the smoke from all the fires or was it the salad I ate last night. Who knows. I got my work done pretty quickly and we were once again on the road. It was going to be a long four hour drive to Boise.

Four hours on the road is just about my limit. I have been sitting on the couch behind the driver’s seat so I can still somewhat back seat drive, but also just tune the road out and watch videos on my phone when I start to get too nervous. We got to Boise around 2:30pm and got settled in our new home for two nights. First thing first was do some laundry. FIVE LOADS!!! Thank golly they had multiple washers and dryers. At the time the ground was too hot for the pups feet so we just hopped them from one patch of grass to the next to get them to pee.

By the evening time I was feeling much better. Not great, but better. Hubby has a high school friend here is Boise, so we met up with them for dinner. It was wonderful to sit out on the patio, have a nice dinner, and enjoy a great conversation with old friends. It was still smokey out, but it was warm and not too sunny.

July 30 Boise Idaho

HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY BUBBY!!!! Shweet! I remembered to say it first, so I win some points redeemable for Ice cream I hope. We have been married 20 years now. That’s crazy. Today we are celebrating it by going rafting. Hubby’s friend owns a rafting rental company and he is taking us out. FUN!!! Nice and easy.

Later That Day

My hubby’s friend took us on a nice relaxing rafting trip on the river that runs through Boise. It was pretty fun because he knows the river and the area so well he not only was the pilot, he gave us a bit of history on the area as well. The weather was warm and the water was refreshingly cold.

It took all of my self control not to grab and cuddle the ducks in the river. They are so used to people that they rush to your boat looking for treats. At times we had 7 or 8 ducks circling us quacking away. I could have very easily grabbed one and hugged it, but I didn’t. I respected the ducks. But I could have. Kinda wish I did. Hmmph… I hate being a responsible adult sometimes

At the end of the  4 or 5 mile trip we brought our boat to the shore and took the rafting company’s bus back to the start of the trip. Rocking out to Guns and Roses. Perfect!! Then it was back to our RV to clean up before dinner. For dinner our friends made us delicious elk burgers. Yummy! I think this was the break I needed. It was an easy and enjoyable day. This whole trip has been fun, but intense.

July 31 Boise Idaho to Bend / La Pine, Oregon

Yesterday was probably the roughest drive we have had all trip. We left Boise Idaho around 9:15 and made our way down highway 20 towards Bend Oregon. There was something about the road that made the drive in the RV very hard. Maybe the road was just too narrow, or the fact that it kept pulling us to the right, so you really had to hold on to the steering wheel. The wind gusts every now and then made it all that more difficult. 

Hubby did most of the driving. I got a little break when we stopped for gas at Oards Gallery and Service in Burns Oregon. I was amazed to see a 100 year old man come out to fill our tank as soon as well pulled up. How do I know he was 100? The sign on the door said it was his birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I have to say, Oards had the most beautiful collection of jewelry for sale. Such a lovely shop.

Instagram lied to me. All those videos I watched where the people are having a delightful adventure driving down the road through these amazing landscapes. PSSHHH! Ya, the places are amazing looking, but what is not amazing is having to hold onto your steering wheel for dear life for four hours. It was a lot easier for hubby, but he said it was still a lot of work. By the time we stopped he was exhausted. We had intended to only drive 3 or 4 hours just past Burns, but I hated the road so much and it was still pretty early, so we decided to drive an additional 2 hours to Bend Oregon. The campsites in Bend were pretty expensive, but just 30 minute more down the road we found a place that was part of our RV membership and would cost only $15. YES PLEASE! To me I feel pretty lucky that we have been able to find places to stay last minute. I guess it helps when it is just for one night in the middle of the week.

Aug 1 – La Pine to Crater Lake in Oregon.

The benefit of driving the extra 2 hours to La Pine Oregon (30 minutes past Bend) is that today we only have an hour and a half drive to Crater Lake. As I have said before, Hubby has been talking about how incredible Crater Lake is and how much he has wanted to go back. Up until now it was my fear of driving that kept us back. It wasn’t the only reason, but a pretty big one. Driving or riding in an RV is a lot less scary for me than pulling a trailer. It also helps that I have been taking magnesium daily for almost a year. It may be in my head, but I feel like my anxiety has gone way down. Last night we were looking at options for visiting Crater Lake. One was taking a boat ride, which sounded delightful. What did not sound delightful was the mile hike down a mountain that you need to do to get to the boat. The boat, by the way that is not covered. We would be in the sun the whole time. Not with this fair skin and green eyes. After the tour you would have to hike back up the steep hill. NOPPITY NOPE NOPE! The other option was a trolley tour. That sounded pretty good, but we want to take the pups with us, and even if dogs are allowed on the trolley, mine would not behave. Today it will be just us in our little car like we did in Yellowstone. But first, some breakfast before we hit the road. Pancakes a la Hubby.

Later that day:

I am feeling pretty proud of myself. I took over the wheel today and got us all safely and in one piece to Crater Lake. It was only about an hour and a half drive, and was fairly easy. A lot of up hill. Tonight we are camping at Diamond Lake RV Park. Only 10 minutes from the front entrance to Crater Lake.

We set up the RV, and hubby and I made our way to the general store. I had to get my sticker for this place. I have quite the collection of pins and stickers to decorate the RV. The general store was right at the boat docks. So beautiful. Okay, sticker and pictures.

It was still pretty early in the day, only 2pm, so we loaded up the family including the pups and made our way to the scenic drive around Crater Lake. The first pull out we came to gave us a great view of the fire that is currently burning in the park. What is with all the fires we have been going through. GEEZ! This whole trip has been filled with smoke.

Up the mountain we went. We parked at a few of the less crowded lookout points, took a few pictures and were back in the car. This place is basically my worst nightmare. So many cliffs. Sometimes it seemed like there were cliffs on both sides. How does that even happen? The views were pretty incredible I have to admit. Even though I was pretty nervous the whole time, I am so glad I came here.

We didn’t even get a third of the way through the park. Maybe Hubby felt bad that I was so nervous, maybe he and the boys had seen enough. I would have kept going and completed the 2 or 3 hour drive around the whole lake. We came so far and I don’t want them to miss out. Everyone seemed fine with going back to camp for dinner.

The smoke had gotten pretty bad. The RV park is pretty smokey right now and the sun was a very familiar orange. No one has mentioned anything about evacuations, and there are firemen everywhere spotting the progress of the fire. We have booked two days here, but I am not sure what our plan is. With all this smoke, do we really want to go back around Crater Lake and see more of what we already saw?

The other option is to start the final stretch home. Right now we are only 9 hours from home. Our next stop was going to be Redding because that is halfway home going down highway 5.

August 2

We woke up and one look out the window and a quick check on the weather forecast and the choice was made. Rain and 104 degree temperatures made the decision quite easy. Nope nope nope. We packed up pretty quickly and made our way back down the mountain. 9 hours in a car is way to much for me, but the determined look on hubby’s face told me I would just have to suck it up. The views driving home on highway 5 certainly made it tolerable, but the smoke was always lingering around. We passed through Shasta and you could barely make out the mountain. It was creepy.

We made it home late afternoon / early evening, emptied out the refrigerator, and popped a family size frozen dinner in the oven, which was gobbled up by 8pm. And we were in bed by 9.

Aug 5 – 2 Days after we got home

I think I still have to process this whole trip. We did a lot in three weeks, and I feel like my head is still spinning. I just can’t seem to get back in to regular life after having been on an RV trip for over 25 days. The day after we got back, which was Saturday, we spent the day cleaning out the RV. I got to work on the inside, and Hubby and the boys scrubbed the thousands of miles of dirt and dead bugs off the outside. GROSS!! That took up quite a bit of the day. It’s Monday and I am still working on the laundry portion. Sunday I wanted nothing to do with the RV, so I got to work cleaning up the garden a bit. It was pretty overgrown and a few drip lines burst. For some reason right now I just can’t stand the garden. It’s too much, and it looks ugly. I hate it. I started yanking out plants left and right. I filled my own bin as well as my neighbors bin. I have three party buckets filled with yard waste as well as a pile in the back corner of the yard. I am not entirely sure what happened, but for some reason I got back from vacation and everything seems off. I will say that I am thrilled we did the trip, and I am also thrilled to be home. I learned a lot on this trip that will help me plan future trips. For now I am just going to get back into my regular routine and try not to destroy the yard too much. BREATH BREATH BREATH!!

Click here to read part 1. Click here to read part 2